


The Hermit, the Lovers, and the Tower

by TheSilverPhoenix



Series: Hetaween 2020 [2]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Backstory, Cardverse, F/F, Family Issues, Future, Hetaween, Nyotalia, Past, Pirate!England, Prompt 2, Tarot Cards, Tarot Inspired, present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:40:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27127333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverPhoenix/pseuds/TheSilverPhoenix
Summary: Once upon a time, there was a small girl named Alice Kirkland, who was destined for much more than her past implied.
Relationships: America/England (Hetalia)
Series: Hetaween 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977382
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	The Hermit, the Lovers, and the Tower

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Alice, who lived in a distant, magical land called Spades. Alice was the daughter of a young sailor and his wife and grew up in a house perched on a cliff overlooking the vast ocean. For months at a time, Alice’s father would sail the wide sea, and each evening, Alice would sit upon the cliff’s edge and watch for the familiar figure of her father’s ship as the sunset upon the horizon. And for many years, her father never failed to return.

However, one winter season, disaster struck. While her father was away, and Alice and her mother were left to run the house, Alice’s mother grew gravely ill. As the days turned into weeks, her mother’s ailment grew worse and rations ran low as the harshest winter Spades had ever seen set in. Alice’s mother died not three weeks after her sickness had taken over.

Alice waited, in her immense grief, for her father to return, knowing his presence would make the passing of her mother easier to handle. Her father, too, succumbed to death, while on his return passage home. His boat had been hit by a large glacier and had sunken in frigid waters. 

Orphaned and alone, Alice was sent to live with her uncle and cousins. She was ripped away from her home by the ocean and taken to the foreign kingdom of Diamonds, far away from the ocean and the land that she loved so much. Life at her uncle’s estate was a miserable one. Her cousins teased her mercilessly about anything they could and her uncle and aunt were strict and uncaring. Grief was not allowed and they made quick work of forcing Alice into the mold of a lady. When talk of marriage cropped up, Alice found herself sneaking away in the night.

She had no parents to love her and no one at the Kirkland estate would care she was gone. Life would go on as if she hadn’t been there and Alice would continue on - alone.

Alice would spend the next several years of her childhood in such a state. She would travel throughout the Hoyle Kingdoms and beg for scraps of food and clothing to keep her alive. She would become paranoid towards anyone who showed her any kindness or who joined her on her journeys, and learned from experience that most people preferred to stab the vulnerable in the back, rather than looking at them in the eyes. It was only when she joined a pirate crew that she felt the sense of family again, yet even that wouldn’t last, as betrayal and greed ran rampant amongst the pirate crews.

At the age of twenty, Alice Kirkland would be an infamous name, whispered by many in all four of the kingdoms. A brutal, bloodthirsty pirate whose heart had long grown as cold as the winter that had taken her parents away. She sailed the sea between Spades and Diamonds, on the same waves her father had when she was a young girl, and menaced the merchant and naval ships that crossed in between them. A high bounty was placed on her head in nearly every kingdom in Hoyle for her capture, or death, and no pirates or thieves dared to cross her path.

Everything changed with the death of the King and Queen of Spades.

At first, nothing changed at all. The death of the monarchs, and the subsequent ascension of their daughter - Amelia, had reached Alice’s ear while she and her crew had been docked in a northern-most port of Clubs. It had not been, however, the only news.

The monarchs of Hoyle were handpicked by the Divines, chosen to lead their nations, and Prince Amelia had - to no one’s surprise - been chosen to succeed her father, the King. She was a perfect candidate for the job. However, the Princess of Spades, the future Queen, had yet to be found. Pre-ascension, the matter was of no consequence, but now that Amelia had been crowned, Spades lacked a Queen. And because Spades lacked a Queen, Spades was considered vulnerable. But Spades and its problems were a long way off and they were most certainly not hers. So the news was dismissed in her mind, nothing more than a subject of gossip and jealousy.

Then, Alice had found the mark of Spades on her back - a deep, vibrant blue etched into the pale white of her skin. It had been the first time in years that Alice had felt true fear.

Fear of the unknown, fear of the future, fear of the uncertainty of it all. So, instead of claiming her spot on the throne, as most people would most likely jump at the opportunity to do, Alice continued on as she normally would’ve.

Fate, however, had other plans.

Not weeks after the mark had appeared on her skin, while docked in a Spadian port, of all places, Alice and her crew were arrested by Spadian Knights underneath the charge of piracy. Two members of her crew had decided to split the reward between themselves. Alice didn’t even have the heart to be mad. She understood long ago that trust was not something given lightly, and it was her own fault that she’d given it to them. A wrong decision, it seemed.

It was then her secret was discovered. The Knights could hardly believe a pirate such as herself had been chosen as the Queen of Spades, yet they did their duty and escorted Alice, rather unwillingly, to the Spadian castle.

Alice was determined to hate the place. Within only a few moments, she’d been cleaned and clothed in ‘proper’ attire so that she could be presented to the King and Jack of Spades. She already felt like a trapped bird forced into a gilded cage and couldn’t help but think that, for the second time in her life, she’d been ripped away from the ocean once again.

Then came Amelia Jones.

The young King of Spades was nothing like what Alice had been expecting. Instead of a stern, uptight young woman who had been brutally molded into an intimidating, uncaring ruler, she found a boisterous, rather immature teenager who had been unexpectedly been thrust into a role she was unprepared for while simultaneously grieving the loss of her parents. Alice had tried, in all her stubbornness, to hate her - to lay the blame of her incarceration at the palace on the other woman because it was her fault.

Amelia had been far more stubborn than Alice. Maybe she’d seen the cold heart of her pirate Queen as a challenge, or maybe Amelia had been equally lonely, but Alice found herself being quite blatantly courted by the young King. It was small, little things in the beginning - talking to Alice every chance she could, following her around the palace halls, taking her meals with her - but as time passed, those things grew into open acts of affection - small gifts in her rooms, lingering gazes while they were together, blue roses at her door each morning. And slowly, life at the palace became bearable with Amelia at her side. It seemed like less of a gilded cage and more of a...home. Like a place she belonged, a place she was wanted.

The cold heart of the pirate had melted away into something brand new in its place. Love.

Alice loved Amelia Jones, and she had no doubt that Amelia loved her in return.

Months after Alice’s coronation, the King and Queen of Spades got married. Not out of political obligation, but out of love and trust and hope. Their vows had proven as much - filled with promises of eternity and bound by the Divines themselves.

After twenty-three years of her life, Alice finally felt at peace. She was no longer alone in the world because Amelia had brought so much more to her life than any plundered riches ever could. A home, a purpose, a family. For the first time in seventeen years, she felt happy.

Alice, of course, couldn’t possibly know what the future had in store.

The Divines had chosen her as Queen for a reason. Because even though Spades had found its Queen, it did not stop the lingering eyes of Spades’ enemies.

War was on the horizon and it would bring death, destruction, and chaos in its wake.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone and welcome back to Hetaween! This was prompt two, which was tarot cards. I'm going to be completely honest, I have no experience with tarot, so this story was lead by three cards I picked and their meanings. You can see the website I used for the meanings [HERE](https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list). I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://silverphoenixwrites.tumblr.com/), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/sil_phoenix), and [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/silverphoenix)!


End file.
